APPLYING THE EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING MODEL TO EDUCATE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION BEHAVIORS FOR PRESCHOOL CHILDREN

The preschool education program as well as other legal documents has stipulated the importance of environmental protection education for preschool children, which aiming at helping children acquire knowledge, skills, and age-appropriate environmental protection behaviors. Experiential learning is an important theory of learning that emphasizes the central role of experience in the learning process. For hildren in preschool age, learning by experience is one of the dominant educational methods in helping children experience and learn from the world around them. By reviewing relevant studies, this article has focused on how to apply David A.Kold‘s experiential learning model in educating environmental protection behavior for preschool children. The four steps in the experiential learning process have been analyzed with detailed instructions for its application. The authors has also proposed principles when applying the model, including paying attention to flexibility and ensuring that children experience, learn by trial and error under the organization and guidance of preschool teachers so that they can construct their own understanding and behavior. The results of this study contribute to flexibly applying the experiential learning model to educate other contents for preschool children.